History Recap / TheSimpsonsS23E6TheBookJob

** Patty turns out to be a huge fantasy buff who is "fluent in every imaginary language from [[Literature/GameOfThrones Dothraki]] to [[Literature/HarryPotter Parseltongue]]," and is invited to join the team on the basis of her expertise.

** When Homer and Lisa chase after at the dinosaur show, they pass by a group of actors still in their dinosaur costumes reenacting ''ComicStrip/TheFarSide'' cartoon "The Real Reason Dinosaurs Became Extinct".

* PteroSoarer: The ''Pteranodon'' at the dinosaur show, whilst lacking pycnofibres, [[ShownTheirWork has a pteroid bone]].

* EverythingsBetterWithDinosaurs: The beginning of the episode has the Simpsons attending "Dino Land," an educational attraction at the local rec center based around dinosaurs.

** Hilariously discussed. When Homer gets taken away by security for taking a nap inside a dinosaur head he protests that it's not against the law to sleep in a ''Tyrannosaurus'' head, to which the guards respond that he's inside an ''Allosaurus''.[[note]]In Homer's defense, the head actually ''does'' look more like that of a ''Tyrannosaurus'', having a much bulkier skull shape and none of the brow horns ''Allosaurus'' is known for having.[[/note]]

** One reason Patty joins the project is that she loves the fantasy genre so much she can't help but want to be [art of it. (The other is that she's flattered they want her knowledge.) Her agreement is said in [[Literature/HarryPotter Parseltongue]].

** In contrast, Lisa starts the story firmly believing in the auteur theory and arrogantly believing that she doesn't need any assistance to help her write her novel. Her novel never makes it off the ground and instead ''she'' is the one who ultimately (at least appears to) acquiesces and make a deal with the corporate publishers to make sure the publishers' version of ''Underbridge Academy'' is released.

* HiddenDepths: Whichever of Springfield's denizens viewers might have expected to have written a series of "moderately successful children's books", it almost certainly wasn't ''Moe''.

* MythologyGag: The original version of ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'' had a golem instead of a vampire. Said golem looks like the one from [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS18E4TreehouseOfHorrorXVII Treehouse of Horror XVII]].

* CapitalismIsBad: [[invoked]] Zigzagged. The villains are faceless corporations that run literary sweatshops, but Homer's team of profit-motivated entrepreneurs are portrayed as heroic opposition to the above.

* EvilLaugh: "The audiobook is only available... abridged. ''Abridged!''" *cackling, maniacal laughter*

** When Marge tries to defend the books by saying Lisa still liked the stories when she read them, Lisa points out that Betty Crocker was never a real person but an invention of men in TheRoaringTwenties. Marge pretends not to be hurt and chastises Lisa, but then goes outside [[NotSoDifferent and empties all her Betty Crocker goods in the trash]].

** In contrast, Lisa starts the story firmly believing in the auteur theory and arrogantly believing that she doesn't need any assistance to help her write her novel. [[RealityEnsues Her novel never makes it off the ground]] and instead ''she'' is the one who ultimately (at least appears to) acquiesces and make a deal with the corporate publishers to make sure the publishers' version of ''Underbridge Academy'' is released.

* RealityEnsues:
** The majority of children at the show are terrified by the life-sized animatronic dinosaurs and run within moments of the show starting.
** Lisa thinks she can just start writing a novel on her own with no prep work. In real life, it can take weeks, months or even ''years'' to prepare to even start writing one on your own, so of course she fails to write a single sentence.

* CluelessAesop: Parodied. The dinosaur-themed show the family watches at the beginning of the episode has a forced GreenAesop after the meteorite hits. Marge thinks the message is sweet, but Bart says the lesson is skewed because if the world is going to be destroyed by an unrelated cause you might as well party while it lasts. Homer, Maggie AND Marge end up agreeing that Bart has a point.

* {{Ghostwriter}}: Lisa finds out that all the young adult books (including her favorite "[[HarryPotter Angelica Button]]" series) are really just based on market research by the publishing companies and then written by teams of writers desperate for work. The "authors" who have their names on the book are just made up, backstory and all, and are represented by actors. After finding this out, Homer and Bart assemble a team to create their own hit young adult novel, using Lisa as the author to be credited.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: After the team is put together, Bart mentions that he [[TropesAreTools feels like they're missing some key role]], but he can't think what. If later events are any indication, that role is [[spoiler:a man on the inside. The team know stories, but they don't know publishing (note that Homer was distracted from Lisa's anti-system anger by his own greed earlier in the episode), so Lisa's ability to infiltrate the latter ends up being key to their victory]].

** As previously shown in the series, the ''Angelica Button'' novels are an obvious AffectionateParody of the ''Franchise/HarryPotter'' series. In another reference to ''Harry Potter'', Bart later remarks that Aunt Patty has "read enough fantasy novels to choke a hippogriff."

* FakeDefector: When the crew breaks in the printing room, the Executive is aware of this because Lisa informed him in exchange of getting to write a sequel to the book. It turns out she's just tricking him into revealing his password so she can see to it that the original book will be printed instead of the vampire-themed version.

* TheSparkOfGenius: The creative version of this trope is deconstructed, with Homer and Bart's group effort being shown to be a more successful and clever way of writing a novel as opposed to Lisa's solo effort, as she's unable to properly focus herself. The episode all but states that ''no one'' on their own really has the creative wherewithal to be able to write "the Great American Novel," and instead the most successful artists take inspiration from others (intentionally or not) & the best art is created as part of a group effort.

Guest stars Creator/NeilGaiman as one of Homer and Bart's writing partners.

* CluelessAesop: Parodied. The dinosaur-themed show the family watches at the beginning of the episode has a forced GreenAesop after the meteorite hits. Marge thinks the message is sweet, but Bart says the lesson is skewed because if the world is going to be destroyed by an unrelated cause you might as well party while it lasts. Homer, Lisa AND Marge end up agreeing that Bart has a point.

* PlotTailoredToTheParty: In a sense. The team Homer and Bart assemble to assist in writing their novel each bring their own talents that prove vital to the novel's success - Homer and Bart are collectively TheLeader, Skinner for his understanding of a child's mind as an elementary school principal, Selma Bouvier's experience and understanding of the fantasy genre, Moe having previously published several moderately successful children's books, and Professor Frink providing a computer for them to write their story on. Neil Gaiman is later included due to his own experience as a widely successful fantasy author.
* RagtagBunchOfMisfits: Homer and Bart's writing team consists of Principal Skinner, Selma Bouvier, Moe Syzlak, Professor Frink, and Creator/NeilGaiman.

** As previously shown in the series, the ''Angelica Button'' novels are an obvious AffectionateParody of the ''Franchise/HarryPotter'' series. In another reference to ''Harry Potter'', Bart later remarks that Aunt Selma has "read enough fantasy novels to choke a hippogriff."
** Some of the fantasy novels on Selma's bookshelf include "[[Series/ParksAndRecreation The Winkles of Elfinshire]]," "[[Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians Percy Sledge and the Olympians]]," "[[Literature/DragonridersOfPern Dragonfriends of Plonk]]," "[[Film/CloudAtlas Cloud Atlas 2: Cumulus Rising]]," "[[Film/InvasionOfTheBodySnatchers The Body Snatcher]] [[Literature/TheCatcherInTheRye in the Rye]]," and "[[Literature/TheVoyageOfTheDawnTreader Booze Cruise of the Dawn Treader]]."

* CluelessAesop: Parodied. The dinosaur-themed show the family watches at the beginning of the episode has a forced GreenAesop after the meteorite hits. Bart, Homer, and even ''Marge'' all instead get the message that it's okay to pollute and litter, since the world is already going to be destroyed by unrelated causes.
* CompositeCharacter: Spiritually, the author of the Angelica Button series is a committee of writers using a PenName calculated for maximum appeal. It also invokes the real practice of ghost writers, using a form of UncreditedRole that does the majority of the work but doesn't get credit for it.

* HeistEpisode: Technically only the last part is an out-and-out caper, but it feels like one from the moment Bart and Homer cook up their idea to write a money-making book. The caper consists of writing a young adult fantasy novel, complete with multiple title cards within the episode showing the job of the specific members of the "crew." However, when the publisher changes their manuscript, they execute an ''actual'' heist to break into the printer and switch manuscripts.

Guest stars Creator/NeilGaiman

* AdamWesting: Neil Gaiman

** Hilariously discussed. When Homer gets taken away by security for taking a nap inside a dinosaur head he protests that it's not against the law to sleep in a ''Tyrannosaurus'' head, to which the guards respond that he's inside an ''Allosaurus''.[[note]]In Homer's defense, the head actually looks more like that of a ''Tyrannosaurus'', having a much bulkier skull shape and none of the brow horns ''Allosaurus'' is known for having.[[/note]]
-->'''Homer''': I demand to speak to my paleontologist!
** Milhouse denies that the animatronics seen during the show are real dinosaurs, since dinosaurs are [[Series/BarneyAndFriends supposed to sing.]] Judging from the masses' reaction, many of the other children may have had similar beliefs.

** Lisa finding out the author of the ''Angelica Buttons'' series is really an actress and that her favorite books are written by the publishers.
** When Marge tries to defend the books by saying Lisa still liked the stories when she read them, Lisa points out that Betty Crocker was never a real person but an invention of men in the 20's. Marge pretends not to be hurt and chastises Lisa, but then goes outside and empties all her Betty Crocker goods in the trash.
* CapitalismIsBad: Zigzagged. The villains are faceless corporations that run literary sweatshops, but Homer's team of profit-motivated entrepreneurs are portrayed as heroic opposition to the above.

* CluelessAesop: Parodied. The dinosaur-themed show the family watches at the beginning of the episode has a forced GreenAesop after the meteorite hits. Bart and Homer instead get the message that it's okay to pollute and litter, since the world is already going to be destroyed by unrelated causes.

* DoingItForTheArt: InUniverse. Lisa, but she is unable to write anything. The other group, [[MoneyDearBoy driven by greed]], is much more productive, so much so that they end up liking their finished work more than the money and defect to Lisa's side.
* EverythingsBetterWithDinosaurs: At the beginning.
* EvilLaugh: "The audiobook is only available ... abridged. Abridged!" *cackling, maniacal laughter*
* ExecutiveMeddling: In-universe. Homer and Bart originally created a fantasy novel that's best described as [[CaptainErsatz Harry Potter with trolls]], but when it actually gets published, the company plans to turn it into yet another [[Literature/{{Twilight}} vampire romance series for preteen girls]].
* ExtranormalInstitute: Discussed; Seymour concludes that the trope has been so successful because children can relate to a school setting. The 'magic' aspect, however, is necessary because it makes the trope more interesting than schools in real life.

* FreezeFrameBonus: If you pause any DVD or streaming video in the right places during the episode, you can see ''actual'' story being written, rather than the usual gibberish often used to simulate writing, meaning that either the team at the show were planning to [[{{Defictionalization}} actually make]] the book in real life and just never got around to it, or they (correctly) assumed people might be curious to what was being written by Homer and Bart's crew and put actual story text in certain shots.

-->'''Marge:''' I know you're hurting, but that's no reason to lash out at me!
* HeistEpisode: Technically only the last part is an out-and-out caper, but it feels like one from the moment Bart and Homer cook up their idea to write a money-making book. The caper consists of writing a young adult fantasy novel. When the publisher changes their manuscript, they execute an actual heist to break into the printer and switch manuscripts.
* HiddenDepths: Whichever of Springfield's denizens viewers might have expected to have written a series of "moderately successful children's books", it almost certainly wasn't Moe.
* HypocriticalHumor: When Lisa "reveals" herself to the rest of the crew as a traitor, Patty comments that it's always a woman who betrays the team.

* ItsPersonal: The writer team initially cared about making a book for profit. However, they care very deeply about the changes made to their book. Bart chastises the team for caring about the book, but he becomes personally invested when he’s told that the war was turned into a dance competition.
* ItWillNeverCatchOn: The publishers go out of their way to stop the crew from getting their book published as they intended it to be. It turns out, the people of Springfield love ''Underbridge Academy'', and its publication is a success for the authors both financially and emotionally. (Though ''Underbridge'' is portrayed as original in comparison to its vampire version.)

* NeverLearnedToRead: Neil Gaiman somehow manages to have a writing career, despite this.
* {{Omniglot}}: Apparently, Patty is fluent in numerous fantasy languages, "from Dothraki to Parseltongue"
* OohMeAccentsSlipping: Played for laughs. Bart tells Neil Gaiman to "lose the [English] accent", which prompts Gaiman to speak what amounts to a line of stereotypically American nonsense in the least convincing American accent ever heard by man.

* PteroSoarer: The ''Pteranodon'' at the dinosaur show, whilst lacking pycnofibres, has a pteroid bone.

* RealityEnsues: The majority of children at the show are terrified by the life sized animatronic dinosaurs and run within moments of the show starting.
** Lisa thinks she can just start writing a novel on her own with no prep work. In real life it can take weeks, months or even years to prepare to even start writing one on your own, so of course she fails to write a single sentence.
* SpecialGuest: Creator/NeilGaiman AsHimself, and Creator/AndyGarcia as Slick.

* TemptingFate: After Lisa explains how she tricked the Executive into publishing the crew's original story, she comments that the best part is that she's been credited as the author. She then opens a copy of the book and learns Neil Gaiman got that credit.

* WhamLine: An in-universe example. The first ''Underbridge Academy'' book ends with the heroes receiving a message that says; "Your parents are still alive."
* WildCard: Ultimately, the conflict between authors and "big money" is decided by Lisa, who had been a neutral party up until them.